


Stories of the Second Self: Midnight Special

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [150]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom, social justice - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: A young werewolf woman named Sierra is at last able to resume her hikes in the woods outside Cincinnati. However, she notices a burnt smell she can't identify. Tracing the source, Sierra comes across an abandoned rail car painted in camouflage patterns to be better hidden. What she finds inside tells her that all is not well age of Alter Idem.
Series: Alter Idem [150]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813
Kudos: 1





	Stories of the Second Self: Midnight Special

In the last couple times of her hike, Sierra noticed a peculiar smoky sweet scent along one stretch of trail. It was stronger on humid days, and so her next hike Sierra decided to go while fully aware that the forecast called for rain.

Hiking, mountain biking, or otherwise just getting away from the city had been taken away from Sierra for two years while Cincinnati was under federal occupation. During that time Sierra came to realize she had a second self, just as a fifth of the city did. It was no surprise to her that she experienced her hairline expanding down the back and sides of her neck, and Sierra embraced it.

Sierra became aware of heightened senses, feeling stronger, quicker, tougher, and more perceptive of other people, even when not turned to her therianthropic wolf state. Though, her first transformation, while more painful than later turnings, brought all the positives to another level.

However, something else was growing in society, as civil government was restored, and that was worsening bigotry among the new demographics like Sierra's.

So, Sierra headed out for her investigative hike in human form. She even carried an umbrella because, as she found out, that people who hated werewolves were keenly aware that werewolves embraced nature. Going out into the rain without wanting to get overly wet skewed people's perception of her, and a few other practices Sierra employed largely staved off the hatters.

The scent carried further than Sierra thought, as she departed from trails and went another hour beyond that. Eventually she came across an abandoned rail line that, before Alter Idem used to run. Sierra was surprised by how rapidly nature overgrew the rails and rotted away the timbers once supporting the twin steel lines.

Between shifts in the wind, Sierra realized that the scene came from where the rail lines disappeared. Following that, Sierra noted how plant growth became more dense and found herself more at home with it.

By the time she saw the rail car and the tunnel ahead of it, Sierra would've thought the area had never been developed. The sweetened barbecue smell became sickeningly sweet, yet Sierra stood before the rusted and detritus covered car's rear door.

It was coming from inside, Sieera knew that to be a certainty. Not even bothering to close the umbrella, Sierra sat it down with the handle rising up at an angle for picking up later. She attempted the door, only to find it corroded shut as if it weren't ever a door.

Coming around the side, Sierra noticed the faint spray painting under the mossy green that had overtaken the car's camouflage green paint, 'Nightcrawler Express.'

The rail car windows had been painted black, but one was broken and Sierra realized it the major source of the smell. Looking inside, Sierra at first didn't recognize what resembled a disjointed meatball sauce with burned streaks, particularly where light came in through the window.

That's when it hit Sierra that she was seeing innumerable corpses. Her knees nearly gave out as she stumbled back gagging from the discovery of the mass grave. Sierra had before smelled a particular scent associated uniquely to human death, and she wondered why these remains didn't give off that smell.

"They were vampires!" Sierra was too shocked to know if she was upset by who had been killed en mass or not.

Crouched down and still overcome by the smell itself and what it represented, Sierra stared blankly at a notepad without registering it. Once she did, Sierra also recognized markings indicating a police department.

At first unwilling to touch it, Sierra dreaded the thought that it contained names, she forced herself to pick it up and open it. Sure enough, she found names in ink and a line drawn through half of them. The small notepad of some fifty pages was nearly full, each row having one name and an address in Cincinnati.

Stories abounded about how the National Guard, with federal backing, had to fight off vampire cults as well as human militants and other violent movements and gangs. However, the idea that the city's own police would be engaging in a purge like this horrified Sierra. Her friend, Jaclynn Chaney's dad was a cop and they both were werewolves like her.

Sierra had the sense of mind to pocket the notepad and grab her umbrella. She wasn't sure what she'd do about this find, but even vampires should've had some kind of rights. After all, if they could 'disappear' vampires who would be next?


End file.
